US envoy Wisner urges Kosovo leaders to protect minority rights

SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN TIMES (USA), 24/05/2006 By Blerta Foniqi in Pristina

 

US Special Envoy for Kosovo Frank Wisner made an official visit to the province Monday. He reiterated the US stance that the final status should be solved within the year.

 

During his visit this week to Pristina, US Special Envoy for Kosovo Frank Wisner called for Kosovo's status to be resolved by the end of 2006. "The United States' view is that the solution on status should be reached within this year," Wisner said after arriving in the capital Monday (22 May).

 

Wisner also appealed to the province's leaders to ensure the protection of minorities in Kosovo and received promises from President Fatmir Sejdiu that the provisional government is committed to doing so.

 

"We promised him that our commitment towards minority rights and this issue should be addressed according to acceptable international standards," Sejdiu said.

 

The US envoy visited the village of Bablak, near the city of Stimlje, which is populated mostly by Serb returnees. He spoke with the Serb families, who told him that they need jobs. "I have one son, but none of us are working. We sowed some potatoes and tomatoes [for food]," said Ljubisha, a 65-year-old resident of a reconstructed home in the village.

 

Wisner said he was impressed by what has been done in the village. "More can be done, but only with a stronger economy. And you will have a stronger economy only when Kosovo has its political status clarified," he said.

 

While in Pristina, the US envoy also met with opposition leader Hashim Thaci, who welcomed Washington's stance on developments in the negotiations process.

 

"I am confident that if we will continue with the current commitment of implementation of standards, and be as affirmative as possible in guaranteeing the communities' rights and in guaranteeing Kosovo Serbs' rights, the trust towards Kosovar policy will increase more and more," Thaci said. Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic, as well as representatives of other ethnic communities, also met with Wisner. During their talks, Ivanovic called for separating efforts to reach an agreement on decentralisation in Kosovo from the process of determining final status.

 

"If the decentralisation process is separated from the status process, then we will have a better local administration and Serbs will have more peace," Ivanovic said. The fifth round of direct negotiations between the delegations from Belgrade and Pristina kicked off Tuesday in Vienna.